Sunday, November 13, 2005

Lash LaRue - King of the Bullwhip

Lash LaRue - King of the Bullwhip. "...Lash LaRue practically had two careers. The first was on the movie screen; the second, until his death in 1996, was being perhaps the most approachable guest star attending western film conventions around the country. He was known as the 'King of the Bullwhip,' the title of what was arguably his best movie, but admitted that he did not come by his whip-cracking talent naturally.

'The whip came into being from a writer and producer and director by the name of Bob Tansey,' Lash explained in an informal interview at the 1981 Western Film Fair in Charlotte, NC. Tansey was considering LaRue for a supporting role in SONG OF OLD WYOMING (1945), the PRC Cinecolor movie which was the first starring vehicle for singer Eddie Dean and which made Dean the first series western star to appear in color. Lash was up for the role of the Cheyenne Kid, who would start as the bad guy and Eddie's rival for the affections of leading lady Jennifer Holt, but would discover the error of his ways and change sides in time to stop a bullet in the final showdown with the baddies." From The Old Corral.